McMillan's vision comes to fruition with NCAA Tournament inclusion

Maybe Texas A&M basketball coach Bucky McMillan has Superman-like X-ray vision. Or just the eyes of a hawk. Or maybe a crystal ball.

Regardless of the explanation, it appears McMillan can see what others cannot.

Last October at Southeastern Conference Media Days, Texas A&M was picked to finish 13th in the league standings.

Everyone saw a ragtag bunch of transfers compiled on a previously non-existent roster. McMillan, though, saw an NCAA Tournament team.

When Texas A&M (21-11) was announced on Selection Sunday as a March Madness No. 10 seed to face No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s (27-5) in Oklahoma City on Thursday, McMillan’s 20/20 vision was confirmed.

He saw maturity. He saw talent. He saw goodness.

"They were older,” said McMillan, who has five players in their final year of eligibility and five with one year remaining. “I saw that they were good people.

“I know that sounds cliché. It sounds like the runner-up trophy a lot of times when people say that. But I’ve just been a part of this long enough that if there’s a baseline level of talent and they’re good enough people, they’re going to have an opportunity to get through the tough.

“We were able to win close games, and then when things didn’t go great, we were able to snap back and keep improving. You do that with good people that are mature enough with a baseline level of talent.”

Callie Garner, TexAgs

Bucky McMillan was announced as Texas A&M’s head basketball coach on April 4, 2025, and he was introduced to the 12th Man three days later.

Still, it’s hard to fully appreciate what McMillan has accomplished in his first season at A&M.

He took over a decimated roster that included one non-scholarship player. Although he arrived at A&M after most of the top transfer portal players were taken, he was able to get commitments from highly-regarded prospects Duke Miles of Oklahoma and Mackenzie Mgbako of Indiana.

But Miles reneged on his commitment and transferred to Vanderbilt instead. Mgbako played seven games before sustaining a season-ending foot injury.

Then, in early November, the Aggies were pummeled, 87-63, at Oklahoma State.

At that point, an NCAA team couldn’t have been seen with the Hubble Space Telescope.

But McMillan remained steadfast in his belief that March Madness was attainable.

“I’m not going to say I was doing jumping jacks for joy when Mackenzie got hurt. That was tough,” he said. “I really wasn’t concerned when we lost to Oklahoma State as bad as we did early in the season because I knew it was just where we were. I was up front about that.

“But if you go back and look at some of the tough losses early or where we were early and see where we are and where some of the other teams are, that speaks volumes about our team, right?

“It’s about where you can get to and how you can persevere to get to play for a national championship.”

The Aggies have shown a glut of perseverance.

The loss to Oklahoma State was followed by a loss to Central Florida. But A&M rebounded with five straight victories.

A couple of late turnovers led to a painful overtime loss to SMU. But a six-game winning streak followed.

The Aggies then won four in a row after a double overtime loss at Tennessee.

They later endured a slump in which they lost six of eight games. However, they bounced back to close the regular season with consecutive victories over Kentucky and LSU.

“At this point, we’re brothers,” said leading scorer and rebounder Rashaun Agee. “I mean, we’ve been together. We hang together. We talk about each other.

“But the best thing is doing it for each other and understanding where we started.”

Agee, a final-year player, heaps credit on McMillan for the Aggies’ success.

“He’ll give his speech about (the game) … man, it just gives goosebumps to your arms because it’s like you want to go out there and do so much,” Agee said. “You want to be impactful, no matter what it takes to win the game.”

Callie Garner, TexAgs

A third-team All-SEC selection, Rashaun Agee is averaging 14.7 points and 8.9 rebounds in 32 games with the Aggies.

Alas, in the most recent game, the Aggies played much like the ragtag group so many expected.

They shot poorly, lost too many turnovers and generally looked overmatched in an 83-63 SEC Tournament loss to Oklahoma, an opponent A&M had previously beaten twice.

When looking at that game, eagle-eyed McMillan doesn’t see an ineptitude. He sees opportunity.

“The good thing is that we’re able to practice. We had two practices (Saturday),” he said. “We haven’t really practiced in a while, just because we were trying to get through that gauntlet of SEC play.

“We need to get back to that and be able to practice and clean some things up. I thought we had some really good practices here.”

Perhaps those practices will bring out the best in the Aggies. Maybe that will spur them on to a win over Saint ;Mary’s and beyond.

That would require beating the odds. Of course, the Aggies have made a habit of beating the odds. They beat the odds just by becoming an NCAA Tournament team.

“It’s a true definition of a bunch of individuals coming together to form into a team,” McMillan said. “There’s no greater example than that. We had more turnover than every other team in college basketball. We had no returning scholarship players.

“For this group to make it, they literally had to take guys that never played with each other, become a true team to fight through the adversity you’re going to see through the season.”

You saw it happen. McMillan saw it before it happened.